Buckle for adjustable shoulder strap



May 17, 1966 M. M. HARRISON 3,251,108

BUCKLE FOR ADJUSTABLE SHOULDER STRAP Filed Sept. 17, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet l FIG. 2

INVENTOR. MARLENE M. HARRISON fi m ATTORNEYS y 1966 M. M. HARRISON 3,251,108

BUCKLE FOR ADJUSTABLE SHOULDER STRAP Filed Sept. 17, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2- FIG 3 t 76 66 68 a? 82 :i 64 Ill, 3

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MARLENE M. HARRISON United States Patent 3,251,108 BUCKLE FOR ADJUSTABLE SHOULDER STRAP Marlene M. Harrison, 131 Michael Ave., East Hartford, Conn. Filed Sept. 17, 1964, Ser. No. 398,477 3 Claims. (Cl. 24-166) This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application, Serial No. 306,154, filed September. 3, 1963, on Adjustable Shoulder Strap for Undergarment or the Like, now abandoned.

The present invention relates to shoulder straps, and more particularly to a novel buckle construction for use ;with an adjustable shoulder strap of the type normally 'it will be understood that various changes may be made from the constructions disclosed, and that the drawing and description are not to be construed :as defining or limiting the scope of the invention, the claims forming a part of this specification being relied upon for that purpose.

Of the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective View of an undergarment equipped with an adjustable strap of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the adjustable strap of FIG. 1 showing the buckle cover in its open position;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an alternative buckle construction of the safne general type as'shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side view of the FIG. 3 buckle, a cover portion of said buckle being shown in its closed position in broken lines.

Referring now to FIG. 1 in greater detail, a ladys slip is there shown with an adjustable shoulder strap 12 of the .present invention attached thereto at front and back portions, 14 and 16 respectively, in a conventional manner as by stitching or the like. As shown, said strap comprises a first length 18, one end of which is attached to said back portion 16 and the other end of which is free and supports a buckle assembly 20. The adjustable strap 12 also comprises a short loop 22 folded along itself and stitched to said front portion 14 of the slip at both its ends. The intermediate part24 of said short loop 22 comprises a free unattached end which carries an elongated eye 26. This eye has an opening 28 therein to receive said short loop and to receive the first mentioned strap length 18. Although the looped second strap is shown it will of course be understood that other constructions could be utilized. For example, a single strap arrangement such as that used in the first strap 18 might be applied here, or conversely, a double strap arrangement might be used in place of the single strap 18.

With particular reference to FIG. 2, the buckle assembly 20 will be seen to comprise a frame member 30 to which said first strap 18 is attached, cover means 32 pivotally connected to said frame member, and a cross member 34 which carries the prong means 37. A portion of said first strap 18 is perforated as shown, and anyone of these perforations 35, 35 can be inserted on the prong 37 thereby providing a shoulder strap 12 which is adjustable along its length.

The frame member 30 is generally rectangular, having two opposite sides adapted to releasably support the cross Patented May 17, 1966 member 34. These sides are defined in part by two posts 36a and 38a, which extend downwardly from the upper portion 29 of said frame member and in part by two upwardly extending posts, 36b and 38b,.each of which are aligned with said downwardly extending posts 36a and 38a and integrally connected to the lower portion 31 of said frame member. A U-shaped extension 39 extends laterally from the upper and lower portions of said frame member and provides the pivotal connection between said frame member and the cover means 32. This U-shaped extension also serves to integrally connect these upper and lower frame portions, 29 and 31 respectively, and it will be apparent that as so constructed these portions can be spread apart for assembling the buckle and its associated strap 18, the free end of said strap having been previously stitched to form a loop adapted to fit around the upper portion 29 of the frame member 30. It should be noted that the various parts of the buckle assembly 20 are preferably fabricated from a suitable resilient'plastic material. The just de scribed frame member 30 and the cross member 34 could be integrally formed by a plastic injection mold process if desired. Such a construction would, however, require that the strap 18 be stitched or otherwise attached to the resulting buckle at assembly in some manner other than that just described.

As mentioned, with reference to the construction shown, the cross member 34 is provided with suitable openings for receiving the posts 36a,,36b, 38a and 38b, which form the sides of the frame member 30. As shown, these openings are defined by opposite end portions 40 and 42 of said cross-member 34. An intermediate portion 44 is generally fiat, with an integrally constructed projection which defines the above-mentioned prong means 37 located generally in the center of said fiat portion 44. A lower longitudinal edge 46 of the cross member cooperates with the lower portion 31 of the frame member to define a slot through which the strap 18 is passed during assembly of the buckle 20. As so arranged, the prong is located at the front of the buckle and is readily accessible to the wearer of an article of clothing equipped with the shoulder strap 12. The strap 18 is assembled with the perforated portion threaded through the eye 26, and the wearer in using the adjustable shoulder strap 12 need only place the strap 18 against the open buckle of FIG. 2 so that one of the perforations 35 coincides with the prong 37.

The function of the cover means 32 is to secure-the strap 18 so that no slipping of the shoulder strap 12 can occur. A hole 48 is provided in the cover 32 for receiving the prong 37 as the cover is closed, and a catch 50 is provided on the cover to releasably engage opposite end of the cover as shown, but may be located at any convenient distance from the pivoted end and may engage any convenient part of the buckle 20. For example, the prong means 37 could be adapted to engage a suitably located catch on said cover means, and as long as the resulting cover is releasably held in. a closed position over said prong means at least some of the advantages to the present invention will be realized.

Turning now to the alternative buckle construction shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a unitary buckle 60 of onepiece injection molded plastic material is provided in place of the buckle assembly 20 of the above-described embodiment. More particularly, the buckle 60 comprises a generally rectangular frame portion 62 and a generally rectangular cover portion 64. The portions 62 and 64 are integrally connected to one another along their adjacent side edges 66 and 68 respectively by a flexible hinge portion 70 which is of reduced cross section to permit the cover portion 64 to be moved relative to the frame portion 62. The plastic material from which the buckle 60 is fabricated is preferably a resilient thermoplastic such as polyethylene or the like.

The frame portion 62 of the buckle 60 includes an integrally formed prong 72 generally centered therein and projecting forwardly to receive an opening 74 in the cover portion 64 when the latter is closed, as shown by the broken lines of FIG. 4. Two slots 76 and 78 are defined in said frame portion adjacent its upper and lower side edges respectively. These slots 76 and 78 receive the end of the perforated portion of the strap 18 in the same manner as discussed hereinabove with reference to the previous embodiment.

The cover portion 64 is provided with a suitable catch 80 for releasably engaging a left-hand edge 82 of the frame member 62 opposite the edge 66 thereof. The edge 82 preferably includes a thickened portion 84 as shown in FIG. 4 so that the inner surface of the cover portion 64 is spaced from the adjacent surface of the frame portion 62 to provide room for the strap 18 (not shown). The catch 80 is integrally formed in an upstanding leg 81 of the cover opposite the edge 68 and comprises two spaced projections 86, 86 for releasably engaging a cooperating abutment 88 at the left-hand edge 82 of the frame portion 62 as shown at the left-hand side of FIG. 4.

The invention claimed is:

1. A unitary buckle of resilient thermoplastic adapted for use with a shoulder strap which can be attached to the back portion of an article of clothing at one of its ends and has a perforated free end portion adapted to be received in an eye adjacent the front portion of said article, said buckle comprising a generally rectangular frame portion having two slots extending along upper and lower side edges thereof so that the free end of said perforated strap portion can be attached to said frame portion generally behind the same, a prong integrally formed in said frame portion and projecting forwardly to selectively receive any one of the perforations in said perforated strap portion, a generally rectangular cover portion of said buckle having an opening to receive said post, a hinge portion of said buckle integrally connected-to a side edge of said frame portion and to an adjacent side edge of said cover portion, said hinge portion being of smaller cross sectional area than the adjacent side edges of said frame and cover portions so that said cover portion can be resiliently closed over said frame portion.

2. A unitary buckle as set forth in claim 1 wherein said cover portion includes an integrally formed catch at the free edge thereof opposite said hinged edge for engaging a cooperating abutment at the edge of said frame portion to hold the cover portion in its closed position.

3. A unitary buckle as set forth in claim 2 wherein said catch comprises an upstanding leg having two spaced inwardly extending projections for engaging said edge of said frame portion, and wherein said last mentioned edge includes a thickened portion for engaging an inner surface of said cover portion to define a space for said perforated strap when said cover portion is closed.

References (Jited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 212,390 2/ 1879 Lobenstein 24-166 X 698,470 4/1902 Drake 24-198 1,856,776 5/ 1932 McDermott et al 24-180 2,863,196 12/ 1958 Shears 24-73 FOREIGN PATENTS 514,451 12/ 1930 Germany.

473,783 10/ 1937 Great Britain.

208,598 5/ 1940 Switzerland.

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

DONLEY J. STOCKING, Examiner.

E. SIMONSEN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A UNITARY BUCKLE OF RESILIENT THERMOPLASTIC ADAPTED FOR USE WITH A SHOULDER STRAP WHICH CAN BE ATTACHED TO THE BACK PORTION OF AN ARTICLE OF CLOTHING AT ONE OF ITS ENDS AND HAS A PERFORATED FREE END PORTION ADATPED TO BE RECEIVED IN AN EYE ADJACENT THE FRONT PORTION OF SAID ARTICLE, SAID BUCKLE COMPRISING A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR FRAME PORTION HAVING TWO SLOTS EXTENDING ALONG UPPER AND LOWER SIDE EDGES THEREOF SO THAT THE FREE END OF SAID PERFORATED STRAP PORTION CAN BE ATTACHED TO SAID FRAME PORTION GENERALLY BEHIND THE SAME, A PRONG INTEGRALLY FORMED IN SAID FRAME PORTION AND PROJECTING FORWARDLY TO SELECTIVELY RECEIVE ANY ONE OF THE PERFORATIONS IN SAID PERFORATED STRAP PORTION, A GENERALLY RECTANGULAR COVER PORTION OF SAID BUCKLE HAVING AN OPENING TO RECEIVE SAID POST, A HINGE PORTION OF SAID BUCKLE INTEGRALLY CONNECTED TO A SIDE EDGE OF SAID FRAME PORTION AND TO AN ADJACENT SIDE EDGE OF SAID COVER PORTION, SAID HINGE PORTION BEING OF SMALLER CROSS SECTIONAL AREA THAN THE ADJACENT SIDE EDGES OF SAID FRAME AND COVER PORTIONS SO THAT SAID COVER PORTION CAN BE RESILIENTLY CLOSED OVER SAID FRAME PORTION. 